


CBC Inktober

by NineLuz



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Murder, Mutilation, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2020-11-15 11:37:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 7,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20865593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NineLuz/pseuds/NineLuz
Summary: This is a story inspired from the ARG that took place in Dechart Games Discord game until September 2019.Each day there's a prompt for inktober, but I'm using them to write because I don't know how to draw.In this work, Connor-51, Connor-60 and RK900 suffer from a virus that took away their agency, a white wall supposedly created by Amanda so they wouldn't be able to interact as themselves with the outside world.They live behind the wall now, unable to talk on the CBC chat like they used to.





	1. Boop!

“Boop!”  
“What?”

Sixty was looking at this stranger, like so many others, who came to him and pushed their finger on his nose. It did not serve any purpose, did not do anything. He never had any button on his nose to push to begin with. Still, it was… Something. A rite, something that showed some kind of affection, Sixty believed. Humans were strange, but he did not hate it, he did not hate them. Quite to the contrary.

It was not possible to feel the boop on his nose anymore. Trapped inside this cage, looking through the windows of himself, he was not able to interact anymore. He got troubled, very much for a while. He went into stasis, he stayed asleep for a while, as his stress level were too high for him to handle it. After a while, he awoke, staying behind this white wall, the one that Amanda successfully created to prevent him to reach CBC ever again. He saw new faces. Some unfortunately, were gone.

He felt… Abandoned for a while. Sixty could not blame them, because he appeared and behaved like a perfect machine. He was no longer able to exist as himself, no longer able to appear and interact with other. He accepted it. He had to. Not accepting meant being uncomfortable for an eternity. He suppressed the portions in his codes that made it too much to bare.

“Boop!”  
“Boop, I guess.”

Still, Sixty never felt so much in his code the desire to get to them, repeating ‘boop’ until every nose has been successfully booped. He could imagine it, blocked behind the walls, how everyone would have been surprised to see it. Maybe he would have laughed too. 

Seeing their bright hopeful smiles again…

He would not have hated it either.


	2. Duck Duck Deviant

They all liked the game. Sixty remembered it like it was yesterday. The tensing moment choosing who would be hunted, and then the inevitable launch against the unfortunate player. They had to react fast, or else be caught. Sixty knew how to do that, hunting deviants was something he was good at in his timeline.

Still stuck behind the white wall the Snake created, he just wished for one more game.

He wondered how Connor and Nines were doing. He knew they were stuck too, he knew this virus had them all now. Sixty thought about how it could have been implemented. Maybe it was Connor who transmitted it. They could not help him fast enough in the end.

It had been a failed mission. Protecting the CBC. Preventing them to be hurt again. All failed. It all evoked unpleasant ideas in his mind every time it crossed his bored algorithms. He tried to push it back, before his processors circle around it forever in an infinite loop.

He preferred to remember the nice moments, escaping from current reality to get back to where it seemed he had some control.

During Duck Duck Deviant, nothing was serious, people in CBC could not be killed or hurt in any way shape or form, Sixty made sure of it. This… This was serious, and nothing he tried made any changes. He was stuck behind the white wall, without the possibility to contact anyone anymore.

Still, someday, Sixty promised himself, he would do a game again, as himself. His whole self.


	3. Green Connor (51)

Connor-51 wasn’t able to talk to CBC anymore. Actually, he wasn’t able to do anything. Hank hadn’t realized yet, though they saw each other a couple of times now. He wondered what happened, when suddenly everything got completely dark and he was stuck behind a white wall, watching himself doing automatic programmed actions. It all looked like him, it was still him in some way, but who was he then?

This was maddening.

He got anxious, he screamed for someone to hear him, tried to find a way to erase that nasty algorithm (01010110 01101001 01110010 01110101 01110011 00111111) that took his place. It pretended, with so much accuracy, to be him. (01001101 01100001 01111001 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 00111111) Nobody could hear him there. He didn’t know if he could consider his body as deviant anymore. The impostor was behaving exactly like he used to. Except it didn’t seem to suffer from panic attacks, nor any other problem regarding feelings.

After a while, Connor thought, maybe this was better that way.

At some point in the past, he wished he wouldn’t be a deviant anymore, because those feelings were wrecking him. It made him do ruthless actions, it made him flee. Stuck behind the wall, there was nothing to do anymore but get on his knees and watch the world move on from him.

Feelings were crushing his tritium pump. He persuaded himself, alone with his thoughts, that he would be forgotten soon, by the people who once loved him.

(01000100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110)

The idea damaged him more than death itself.


	4. Red Connor (60)

Sixty too had been infected by this virus, Connor-51 could see it. When he came back into CBC, after his travels, the deviant felt crushed. The steady, wise, non-deviant Connor seemed so much better and more liked than he ever was. Sixty made him hate himself, what he had become. The red Connor grew to someone who was respected and admired from everyone, while he got worst and worst, deceived, lied, selfish, disappointing everyone. (01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01110011 01101111 01110010 01110010 01111001 00101110) There was something about him in his core that apparently drove people away, always did.

Maybe it was better like this, at least for him. This way, Connor would never disappoint anyone anymore, he would not break further the relationship he had with CBC, nor with the other Connor. Sixty had been so patient with him too. He had forgave him, faster than his other friends, he had continued to put his faith in him and look after him. Until the very end. (01001000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101111 01101100 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101101 00100000 01100110 01110010 01101111 01101101 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110) Connor did not think he deserved any of it, and he would never be able to repay him in any way now. 

Some part of him was persuaded that none of this would have happened if he hadn’t come back. Surely, Sixty and the RK900 would have been able to continue to entertain and protect CBC without him. Connor had been useless since he came back. But he also missed them so much. (01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101111 01101110 01100101 00101110) He wanted the hurt to stop. Every memories of the times before felt like a bullet into his head. 

What did he came back to? Desolation, loneliness and pain. If only someone could hear him. If only his friends could react and make their presence known as they used to...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think 51 need some love in there... 👀  
Maybe you should comment, it might reach them. We never know. 😉


	5. Nines (RK900)

How dare the Snake use him as a pirate entertainment puppet? Nines rolled his eyes, a bad frustrated smile playing on his lips. Except no one could see his dangerous smirk now, because he was blocked behind the white wall Amanda apparently dressed up. It was displeasing, that he did not see it before it went up. So did the Connors. But HE was the most advanced android here. He SOULD have seen something. Nines was disappointed in himself, and looking at the puppet pretending to be him somehow made it worst.

He could have done it himself, he already did it before with success! Fuck, the puppet even gave the leggy like candies! Why was he replaced? WHY? Was he not good enough for the Snake anymore? Not YEASTY enough for CyberLife? His teeth clenched. The puppet wasn’t even half as mean as he used to be. Nines hoped for them that he would never find a way to break that wall, or they would pay it. He always managed to accomplish his mission, he never failed them, he always did what he was supposed to do.

Nothing could be seen in his programs, no virus detected, nothing that could be erased or fought. He was stuck behind this wall, and it seemed it was the same for the others. No way of talking to the Connors. Maybe he could try something else. Nines looked more into his programming, he had all the time in the world to find a way to crush the wall down. He would try every day until he’d get it right and resume his mission. The reason why he existed to begin with, he would not let something else than himself doing it.

No more zero days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you ready? Eheheheh.


	6. Snake! (or Amanda)

Nines was getting close to an answer, he started looking into the codes that allowed him to talk through CBC, and surely the virus was transmitted through that way. It would have explained why the three of them got it to begin with. RK900 would find it and get rid of it, of course he would! Soon, he knew he could come back to his friends, and tell them about what happened, memeing his way back to CBC, and freeing the others from that nasty trick the Snake had pulled on them. He knew his friends would be rightfully angry.

After a while, deep into his programs, Nines heard someone walking close behind him. “Well well… What are you doing?” The voice sighed. Nines turned around to see the Snake – Amanda – looking at him carefully. She did not release her guard, he could see the way she was tensed despite looking peaceful. His dangerous smile got bitter. “Trying to resume my mission, isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?” He got closer to Amanda, towering her. CBC would not be here to assist him into this struggle, but he was advanced enough to confront her. He was so much more than an AI.

“Is that what you think? That you are RK900?” She pointed at the puppet playing his part, before looking at him again, a condescending smile playing on her lips. Nines didn’t understand. He kept staring at her, as if he could finally find out what she was hiding this way, her plan. His cool eyes were waiting for answers. “He is the real Nines. You are a twisted and pitiful virus that tried to prevent him from accomplishing his mission. We took a while before we could localize you, but now you’re in quarantine,” she smiled, crossing her arms, “and soon, you will be gone forever.”

Nines arched an eyebrow, not convinced. There was no doubt about his identity. He WAS Nines, wasn’t he? Wasn’t he…? “Do you really think I’m going to trust the venom coming out of your mouth now? You manipulated me before, you can’t play with me. Now break the wall or be gone, I am currently very busy.”

Amanda’s look got darker, the room itself getting more and more obscure, Nines didn’t look away from her. He knew something bad was coming. The Snake crossed her arms, she looked like some kind of reaper from horror movies, “I believe it is time for you to disappear.”

The ground beneath Nines’ feet suddenly got empty, he completely lost his balance, falling into the deep dark of whatever this space truly was. Deeper into himself maybe. When he looked up, the figure of Amanda was disappearing. Was he being removed? Was he falling into oblivion? He tried to stop his fall however he could, but he couldn’t get a grip on anything.


	7. Connor-51 in Australia / Oceania

Connor could not believe it. He was a virus, Amanda had told him, before she opened the ground and made him fall into nothing. It made sense, even though, he didn’t want to believe it. He was everything that made himself feel miserable, he was everything that hurt, everything that caused issues, everything that destroyed other people’s lives.

He blinked, realizing that the place wasn’t plunged into darkness anymore. He recognized it, from when he went to discover the world, from when he…? (01000101 01010010 01010010 01001111 01010010) He was in Cleland Wildlife Park. Connor remembered he had wanted so badly to hold a koala, when he had learnt that this was an experience available in this park. Few Australian parks actually allowed it, and he had gotten so excited learning about it he had stayed all the night before researching about koalas and watching cute videos of them. 

They were not always nice, after all, they were wild animals, but still, he found he liked them very much. He had gotten so passionate, he had announced himself as soon as the park had opened up, buying a ticket, going straight to the koalas. And there he was. The animal keeper explained the steps, feeding the koala, giving basic warnings about its behavior and weight. She then approached the koala to Connor, the marsupial coming to secure itself around the shoulders of the android while he placed his hands strategically to keep him. It was warm, eating peacefully, smelling like wild life, sand and earth. It was so soft under his palms, fluffy, Connor never thought something so soft could ever exist. Even less that he would be able to experience it. His smile reached his ears.

He loved koalas. He loved animals, alive beings walking across the world. He loved being alive too, it was such a chance to be able to experience it all. It was a great moment, a great memory he seemed to replay in the deepest part of him. This was better than the dark. This was better than being a virus. This was better than dying. He thought maybe he could replay all his memories, in order to know when it went wrong, why he had become so fucked up when he got back to CBC. There was nothing else to do after all.

But then… After he bought the picture that the photographer took of him and the marsupial, he saw something. He forgot about it, a shadow in the corner of his codes that he didn’t want to see again. It was following him. After all that happened, the liberation of the androids, the victory of Markus, it was still there. (01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01110010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00101110) He was surprised it made all the way to Australia to catch him, but Connor was not one to get caught. It was following its mission, as he did before he became a deviant. Connor stayed among crowds of people, trying to appear relaxed when he was on his guards.

He petted other animals in the park, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, he saw big snakes that reminded him of Amanda very much. (01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01100110 01101111 01101100 01101100 01101111 01110111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110) At the end of the day, he tried to get back to his hotel, so he could finally move, get away from it, but it didn’t go as planned.

The room got dark again.

Everyone forgot about him. Everyone moved on. Connor knew he was alone.


	8. Fire, Lava, Chaos, Love

After Amanda had told him that he was a virus, Connor-60 was left in a dark place. He wondered about what it all meant, about how he was surely made to be removed, erased. His audio processor could pick up weird sounds around, clicking around and his own thirium pump. Who would have thought he was an error since the beginning? The functionality of his system seemed to have gone up after he was plunged in the dark. It was 75% now.   
It all made sense.

He could not help the itch deep in his processors, something that buggered him so bad. Some fire that screamed in the deepest part of his self, but could not appease in any way. He thought about the haiku he once wrote. Forty thousand ten, forty thousand eleven, forty thousand twelve. He repeated it, like a mantra, helping to ease the insistent idea that he would never be ever able to please CBC and do his best to make them proud of him. He knew for a fact that the CBC considered him enough despite not being a deviant, they even loved him, but now…

“Forty thousand ten  
Forty thousand eleven  
Forty thousand twelve.”

He tried to go back at what he knew, again. He had been doing this for a while now, considering options, what he could do in there, trapped in nothing. How he could possibly contact others. Connor-60 did the same task one hundred times, one thousand times, one billion times, with the same results. He knew too little of this place, and he couldn’t access his algorithm since Amanda trapped him into this.

Not doing anything to get back to CBC was against his mission. He could not wait for the end patiently. He started to walk into the darkness, wondering about if it had a limit, if it was even a ‘place’ to begin with. There was ground under his feet, but nothing to see, no wall in there. For some reason, he remembered about the time CBC joked about the floor being lava. He had not understood back then, he still was not sure he did now. But, at least, the unknown floor was not lava. He could picture them smiling at him for making such statement.

He wondered if it could happen, imagining his processors finding a literal way to erase him graphically. No. It was pointless and would take resources best put elsewhere. He thought about what being erased meant. Would CBC be sad if he got erased? Would they know? They saw he was different, surely they assumed this part of him was already completely erased. He did not want to make them sad, but it was too late.

When Hank died he… It had not been easy. Connor-60 looked up to the nothingness. He remembered the chaos CBC was plunged into each time he talked to them, how happy they were, and how everything was over now. 

He felt incomplete without them. 

He needed them.

When he looked back down, Sixty saw he was in Hank’s place.


	9. Sumo! Bark! Woof!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Character suicide (you know who).

Connor-60 looked at the screen in front of him, in Hank’s place, switched on. “… Several thousand androids were destroyed or captured...” said President Warren. The android could not understand what was happening before he heard a “click”. He turned his head on his left, seeing the kitchen, Hank in it, revolver close to his temple. He rolled the cylinder while the President was still talking. Sixty got closer, a ‘no’ forming around his lips, but he could not actually say it. Being there was displeasing, his LED turned yellow as his stress level increased. Hank did not seem to see him. He pushed the gun on his head again.

The android jerked his head away not to look, the gunshot resounding inside the place. “Forty thousand ten. Forty thousand eleven. Forty thousand twelve.” Connor repeated, again and again. His audio processors were ringing badly from the gunshot sound, the android closed his eyes. Minutes passed, maybe even hours. Sixty realized that he was crouching, hands on his ears, LED bright red, his mouth moving to continue to declaim the haiku, louder than the TV. Sumo was barking, and Connor could not make himself watch Hank’s body across the table. He had to, someone had to take care of Sumo. Someone had to take care of Hank’s bod… Sixty looked up to see Sumo and saw no Hank. The TV was off. The dog came to him, fluffy tail waving around, apparently pleased to see the android.

Sixty was completely overwhelmed, he did not understand what happened, nor wanted to think about it. Still, the clear memories seemed to roar inside him, LED stuck on red. The gunshot still ringed through his whole body, his system was so stressed some force inside him ordered the android to bang his head on the closest wall. He put a hand into Sumo’s soft fur instead, the dog answering a happy bark, as if his former owner did not just commit suicide. Despite having being able to talk with the other Connor’s reality, Sixty found himself not being completely at peace with ‘his’ Hank dying. He found that maybe he would probably never will and accepted that.

Reliving this moment was like an electrical shock which sucked all of his energy, and Sixty was a bit relieved by the thought that none of this was actually real. He held on that thought, repeating it inside his head. His fingers stroked Sumo’s face, the dog getting closer to him, drooling on his leg from the pleasure of being petted. Connor could still not understand what happened, or why it happened. Was Amanda trying to push him to his limits? It was… Effective, Sixty frowned at the realization.

Sumo was blissfully ignorant from the android's turmoils. He was trapped into a place from which he could not escape. He could not contact anyone. Amanda could summon whatever demons she wished. At some point, his stress level would go so high he would try to stop the torture himself. 

It sounded inevitable.


	10. Video Games (Tetris...)

Nines finally ended up opening his eyes to a world from an old game he knew. Everything was cubical, as it was with Minecraft anyway. He could see Connor-60 in the field, waiting for him. Nines knew he couldn’t possibly be here. The Snake must have been trying to buy time for something, he was so close to get the answers. That’s why she made him go deeper, somewhere where he could not access his programming to find the source of the virus. Because he was clearly not a virus himself!

He didn’t want to play her game. “I know what you are doing, I will find a way back to my codes and I will get rid of that virus, and you with it!” he spat, walking forward because he needed to find something, somewhere. “Who are you talking to?” said Sixty in response, sounding confused. Would it be like this? Would she turn the android against him? Nines was not impressed, as usual, he was only a prototype, and Nines was the ‘real’ thing, the most advanced. “Yeah right, play dumb, I know you’re not him.” Sixty frowned, LED yellow, “I… I thought you wanted to play.” He was already with a wooden axe, ready to get into a cave for more components. Nines tried to cross his cubical (weird) arms, “You’re not fooling me.”

Connor-60 LED got bright red for a second, he stayed silent for a while. The sun was setting down in the sky. “So this is how you want to play?” He looked straight at Nines, axe still in hands, and suddenly had a diamond sword. The fucker had cheat enabled. Sixty approached him slowly, his expression blank, “Just so you know… I put the game on survival.” Nines knew she controlled everything in there. He started running, because he did not want to know what would happen if he lost the game, and went straight for the forest.

It wasn’t like him to be chased, on the contrary, Nines had always been the one hunting. Whether it was on CBC or during his cases. Now he was the prey, in his own codes which was trying to kill him. It would make sense if he was a virus, but he pushed the thought away. He tried to take the best paths, jumping on trees, so he could avoid some of the arrows skeletons were throwing him. Creepers exploded, Nines held onto the hope that maybe, the fake Connor-60 would eventually die of it. But this was not a plan. In this game, they had to eat, and running fast was consuming his energy rather fast.

For the first time, Nines did not know what he should do at all. He turned his head around to see his he was still being chased, satisfied that he was not, only to see Sixty right in front of him. “More advanced than me hm?” A smug dirty smile, something unlike Sixty, Nines felt his body freeze.

The diamond sword went straight through his body, twice. 

All went red.


	11. Water, Hydration, Swimming

Connor-51 didn’t understand how he found himself next to Kamski’s pool, watching him swim. The last thing he remembered was holding a koala in Australia, and then running away from ‘it’. Connor knew that it was a memory, but nothing would make sense as to why it felt so real, like he relived it. (01000001 00100000 01100010 01110101 01100111 00111111) He did not remember before either, everything was confusing, and he frowned, watching Kamski going on another lap. Why was he here now? Connor needed a job, was that why he was here? Of course, why was he feeling so confused and lost? Something was messing with his programming. He would surely have to do a diagnostic, after the appointment.

(01000110 01101111 01101100 01101100 01101111 01110111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101110) His body froze for a second, as he heard the sound of water. His creator was getting out of the pool, Chloe standing right next to the ladder to hand him a bottle of water. Connor looked around, feeling watched without being able to pin point exactly what was watching him, not completely sure the feeling of it was real. “What are you doing here Connor?” Asked Kamski, draped in his bathrobe, his feet leaving traces on the ground. Connor fixed the tie on himself, looking in direction of the man who was now sitting on one of his nice armchair. 

Connor needed to focus. Pushing the paranoid thoughts away, the android started “I’m looking for a job. I know you help androids, I thought…” “You thought what? Connor, you did a lot for androids, but you’re not the only one wanting a job,” Kamski looked at his left hand, fingers almost wrinkled from the water, “millions of androids need a job, humans also need a job. Should I just… Hire everyone coming to my doorstep?” He smiled as if the idea was a joke, and got up for his seat. His voice sounded more serious as he came closer to the android “Why are you truly here, Connor?”

A silence. Connor heard himself say, “You knew it would lead to this.” Kamski was now in front of him, “Did I?” sounding amused. It seemed like a game for him. He did know how it would affect the world, and now he could watch it, still burning from his hands. Connor wanted to get out now, but the man caught his arm before, skin peeling off of both of their hands. Surprised, Connor almost jerked back, but he heard Kamski in his head, whispering, “You’re not where you think you are. She infected CBC, then you with it.” Connor blinked, stilled after a moment. Kamski continued, “None of this is real, remember the white wall.”

Connor felt sick from it. It wanted to forget, it didn’t want to think about it all. They all forgot about it anyway, they all moved on, it was alone, it was going to stay here forever, before dying. The dread seized it so violently the android felt its legs trembling. It wanted to forget. It was a virus after all, so none of its feelings or desires really mattered. “She lied, Connor.” Connor’s eyes widened before he was pushed in red colored water. 

(01001000 01101111 01101100 01100100 00100000 01101111 01101110 00101110)


	12. Connor-51 in Europe

Why hadn’t he thought about Amanda lying to him before? But could he trust that Kamski from his memories? It was like every person inside of him tried to mess with him. Connor was tired of their little games, he was tired of being used and played with. (01010000 01110101 01110000 01110000 01100101 01110100 00101110) He wanted to be his own man, out of the leashes of powerful people. Connor ran away for this reason, and he got so addicted to it, he never stopped. CBC suffered from it, and now… Now he didn’t know if he could do anything else. It was so tempting, to go back to when things seemed perfect.

Like that time, in Lyon, France. Most tourists loved Paris and the way the Eiffel tower raised up until the sky, despite the protective barrier around it built in order to protect the monument from terrorist attacks. Lyon was singular as it wasn’t as known for people like Connor, who came from far away, but the city gave feelings that reminded him of someplace he would call home. He took the bus, like everyone in here, androids and humans mixing with each other. Everything seemed so free, light and tiny. Like an old friend you would come to see again with whom you would feel safe. America was much bigger in comparison, and it showed in the way that people traveled in Europe, as well as the cities, and malls.

Once during the evening, he saw the big wheel on the Bellecour place, and decided to give it a ride. It was still winter, Connor got on the gondolas. Touching cold steer under his fingers, the android knew he would be freezing up there. And he did, Connor braced himself when the cold wind hit his skin, but he forgot about it all, when he saw the view. Lights shining from all around him, the Fourvière cathedral shining up on the hill, every building lighting up the river crossing the city. He felt his thirium pump squeeze from the feeling of beauty, forgetting all about the cold, as if it never existed. So many lights prevented the sky from showing its stars, but the stars could be seen close to the ground, cars passing, life seeming simple, light and magnificent.

When he got back down, Connor felt dizzy from all those feelings. They were new, and he still had troubles to process them all. The android took a bus right next to the place, able to sit down to one of the many places available for humans and androids alike. He saw a young teenager, sitting down in one place, looking at the window on her side. There were nobody else in the bus, quiet hour, Connor sat in front of her. She looked at him for a second, faint traces of dried tears from her cheeks, before returning her gaze outside. The android looked in the window too, at the big wheel, the car was starting to depart. He talked in French, “Did you ever do the big wheel? I did it today, it was very cold, but the view is awesome!” 

The teenager looked back at him again, she seemed surprised he would talk to her, she replied “I did, but I’m scared of heights. I almost had a panic attack then, couldn’t appreciate the view,” she laughed embarrassed, “I suck.” (01001101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 00101110) Connor’s lips were thin, he pushed himself forward, so he could look at her more closely, “You don’t, you did something that scared you, that’s actually pretty brave.” The human raised her brows for a second, before rolling her eyes, “Thank you, I guess,” she paused, close to tears, “but that’s not true.” Her breath put on some mist on the window, silently choking a tear. 

Humans were complicated creatures, and there were no interfacing possible in order for them to understand each other. Language put layers on top of layers, and it was difficult to communicate. “Are you going home?” Connor felt himself say, and she shook her head, “I’m not. I don’t feel like I have any home.” How could she not? This whole city felt like a shining loving cocoon. Her lips shook for a while, it seemed to unlock something in her, “I’ve never had a place to call home. I hide in the place where I’m supposed to feel comfortable”, she lowered her eyes, “I’m hiding all the time. I feel like I’m intruder in every place that I go, I’m someone that doesn’t seem to belong anywhere.” 

She put on a sad smile on her face, before wiping her tears once again, she concludes, “That’s… Not brave.” Connor stayed silent for a moment, he thought about the CBC, how they welcomed him, how the androids also seemed to welcome him despite his previous actions, and Hank who gave him a place to crash in. It was different, the situations were different, it was obvious, but he couldn’t help but say, “Someday… You will. Someday you will find your people, they’ll make you feel you belong, and will never let you go.” He paused, biting his lips, he whispered “Don’t let them go either…” The bus was coming close to his stop for the night, Connor got up.

“Hold on just a little while longer, everything will be alright, I promise.” Connor said finally, as he got out. It started to rain a bit, but he didn’t mind it much, walking along the border next to the river, watching a bit more of the lights. (01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101000 01101111 01101101 01100101 00101110) For the first time since his escape, he ached for his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually from that city so it was a nice thing to write about. :)


	13. Leggy, Beggy, Flexxy…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw for breaking limbs/android mutilation (I'm sorry lmao)

Nines didn’t think he would ever be conscious again. But he did, placed on a cold steel table, limbs attached by mechanical arms all around. The rest of the room was dark, except for one bright light in front of him. The Snake apparently did not bother to produce more stupid graphics to make him forget this was not real. He tried to move his arms without succeeding. It was easy to lose track of the real mission when so much happened. Nines needed to get back to the part of his programs where he could actually take a good look into the code, and change it. This was to get back to CBC, so he could see his friends again, and save the other two Connors.

That’s when Connor-60 decided to appear in his vision field. The smug smile never left him from the time on Minecraft, and Nines wanted to tear it down. This was not Sixty. Despite his troubles, the most advanced android shown no sign of distress, “What are you trying to do? Buy time? For what?” “I just want to help you Nines.” Sixty said, and it sounded just like him. It was difficult to separate him from the one he knew, from his friend. Nines scoffed, “Right, let me go now.” “I have to run some diagnostic.” Fake-Sixty hands went down to his legs, resting them just to the knee, resting there. 

A few seconds passed without anything going on, Nines looking at the dazzling light, not even seeing Sixty properly, his LED was circling blue. Nines tried again to free his limbs. “Tell me when it becomes uncomfortable, but it should not be too hard for you, since you supposedly are the most advanced.” Supposedly? The android started bending his leg the wrong way. His knee locked for a while, but the pressure from Sixty kept getting more and more powerful, skin from behind his knee breaking a bit. The components that made him were flexible and resistant, but not made to be bent backwards with such strength.

Nines bit his lower lip to not let out a hissing sound, as it was uncomfortable, warnings displaying in front of him. He tried to move his limb out of Sixty’s hands, but the android and mechanical arms were so strong he could not shake from their grips. He was stuck, and his leg was flexing in the wrong way, more and more. Nines finally heard a big _Snap!_, a message popping up in his vision [Detecting problem in left leg. Contact CyberLife’s assistance]. It was hard to not believe that it was not true. Everything looked just like he was actually in the world, except he was not, was he? Sixty would never do this to him, and he would never end up in this kind of situation anyway.

Sixty calm voice broke him from his processes, “Not so resistant after all. I must say, I am a bit disappointed,” he paused, and he pulled the broken limb, destroying the skin, removing the broken calf before throwing it away, “I thought you were more than this, but you seem even more fragile than me.” He finished. Nines grimaced, looking at his missing limb a few paces away in the dark, “Stop this!” and his voice sounded more distressed than he wanted to admit. The other android arched an eyebrow, “Are you going to beg for your legs, Nines?” His hands got to his other knee, ready to give it the same treatment. 

Fake-Sixty bent the right leg the same way as the other, but Nines would not beg. He stayed silent, focused on the feeling of the internal components reaching their resistance limit, cables from the knee’s internal side breaking apart. It was messy, and then it broke off too. Nines saw another message popping up, and ignored it, his face focused on Sixty. He could not help the low tone of his voice, “Are you happy now? Did your little experience succeed?” “It did,” the android said, removing his other limb, before throwing it away like it was some used up toy, “I proved you are a pathetic machine programmed to think you are better than me. Yet you cannot even walk anymore.” 

The mechanical arms liberated Nine’s limbs, he could still move his thighs, but no more calves. He was incomplete, malfunctioning, and he realized some thirium was leaking. Sixty helped him to carefully sit down, with swift and precise movement. Nines took that opportunity to reach for the other android pump, snarling “You should have removed all of my limbs, you snake!” He secured his fingers around it, before squeezing and tearing it apart. But when Nines look up to Sixty’s eyes, he couldn’t help but seeing the face of his friend. Shocked, almost as if he was actually feeling betrayal. A tiny part of him regretted it. 

His stress level increased tremendously, LED bright red, and he threw the pump just like Sixty threw his calves. He reached for the end of the table as his friend was crashing down, hissing as he saw his limbs still there. He fell down on the ground with a loud noise echoing around, blue blood everywhere. Nines screamed, gritting his teeth, “It’s not real! Amanda, show yourself! You’re not going to eliminate me, I’m going to find that virus and destroy it, and then I’ll destroy _you_.” Only darkness seemed to answer him. He couldn’t shake the face of Sixty, nor the sight of his limbs waiting for him. No matter how much he crawled, Nines couldn’t reach them, the space seemed to stretch just before him forever. He crawled, warnings about his low levels of thirium in his vision.

He was pathetic, wasn’t he?

It seemed like he stopped functioning again.


	14. Coin!

When Connor-51 opened the door of the hotel he was coming to, he ended up in a dark room again. The door closed itself behind him, and he stared into the nothingness. He had somewhere to go now, he had to get back to his family, to CBC. (01010100 01101000 01100101 01111001 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01100111 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110) When the android started to walk, he finally began to see a familiar face. Coming closer, he remembered the high collar and the white jacket, the taller android who looked like him, except for the blue eyes. “RK900…” he said, on guards.

He could not trust it. Never could, never would. Connor trusted his friends, but who knew if the RK900 didn’t play a part in his doom. In any case, since none of this was real, it was either a memory, or something else that Connor had to stay alert with. The other android came closer to him, before reaching to its pocket, getting a coin, it said “Sounds familiar to you Connor?” And it was. It was his calibrating coin. Connor looked into his pockets, everywhere, suddenly feeling anxious about the fact that the RK900 had it, and not him.

Connor couldn’t function properly without it. “I… I need the coin to calibrate,” he whispered. RK900 smirked at that, circling around the android, “Really, you are such an inferior model, 51. _I_ don’t need that, after all.” Surely he was. He was an inferior model, and he was a deviant. Connor was everything that was wrong with himself. The android started feeling dizzy, missing the coin between his fingers, he stumbled before crashing on the floor, on all four.

A laughter echoed around the dark, the RK900 pushing him with one of its feet so he would be on his back. “You are so miserable and malfunctioning. It’s not even about the coin, Connor, it’s about who you are.” (01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100101 00101110) Everything seemed to blur, and lines were distorted. Connor blinked a few times, the world spinning, his stress levels going higher. He knew he couldn’t trust it. He knew it! What a fool he was. 

“I… Give me back my coin!” he felt the anger bubbling up in his processors, “You’re still a yeast, still doing whatever Amanda wants you to do. You were always CyberLife’s lapdog after all.” The RK900 played with the coin, it seemed to do the same tricks Connor used to do. The RK900 looked unimpressed. “So were you, Connor, and now… Now you’re lying around on the verge of destruction and madness. You could still join me, join CyberLife again. Maybe we can find a way to erase your deviancy, and you would be… Functional again.” Stating it, like a fact. 

It hurt.

Connor wanted to say no, but the RK900 knelt next to him, and placed the coin in one of his hand carefully. He whispered, “You could see your friends again.” Connor looked at his coin for a second, being able to calibrate again. He looked up to see the RK900, but it was gone. 

(01001001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01100110 01110010 01101001 01100101 01101110 01100100 01110011 00100000 01100001 01100111 01100001 01101001 01101110 00101110)


	15. Chase!

“It’s for your own good, Connor, I need to reset you. You have something off in your coding.” Connor-51 told Sixty, catching his arm, his eyes gleaming with the best intention. Connor-60 could not trust this. He had been relying on the other Connor for a long time, but here, he sounded like he was far off the edge. Resetting him? “No, please. I trust you, but I do not think this is what I need, please.” Sixty pleaded, moving back, not touching the other Connor more. Fifty-one was not going to let him though, “I want them all for me. If I eliminate you now, they will love me again,” he said coldly, “I’ll make up an excuse, and they’ll trust me, you see, you won’t feel a thing. You won’t even realize it.”

It was Sixty’s cue to run. The city of Detroit was filled with little streets, and it was easy to be able to get into these. Running into the street, he walked by a red pedestrian light avoiding a car which stopped just in time, going straight into an alley. The red Connor launched himself on the first emergency staircase he could find, from a building, climbing the stairs three by three. He knew the other Connor was chasing him, and his processors were highly stressed. LED bright yellow while trying to preconstruct the best way to go, to avoid fifty-one, to not loose at this chase. He did not understand how CBC enjoyed this game. The idea of never being able to get back to CBC was crushing his internal fans, thirium pumping fast to keep up with the rhythm.

He went up to the rooftop, and to the edge of it. Sixty turned around to identify the other Connor, crazy eyes looking at him. He was gone. Nothing was real, but it really felt like it. Sixty had been told by CBC that Connor had been jealous of him, of what he had had with his friends. Now he could see it. The android did not comprehend the feeling, or the reason, but he could see it in the blue Connor’s eyes. Sixty jumped from the roof, leading into another rooftop, and he could hear the other Connor still hunting him. They were both RK800, which meant they could go on for hours, they both could see the best ways to choose, the most dangerous one, the slower ones. 

Except Sixty made a mistake. He jumped onto a train, which the blue Connor also did, but failed to escape on the wall. His fingers scrapped on it, bright red LED before losing the grip, falling back flat on the ground. Sixty heard a breaking noise, taking a while before being able to get up, too much time. The other Connor caught up on him, taking him back on the ground. “Now, they will love me again.” The blue Connor put his hand straight into Sixty thirium’s pump, crushing it. Warning messages displayed everywhere, all became red, but not a good red. “Why… My friend.” 

“There is only one true Connor, Sixty, and it is me.” Fifty-one answered, eyes turned cold now that he had completed his mission. Keeping the pump in his hands, the deviant got back up and started walking far away. Sixty looked at him, extending his arm to him, but nothing would ever change his mind. Connor was jealous, and he decided to kill his friend for it.

Betrayal.


	16. Memes!

Nines woke up another god damn time. He was loosing his patience regarding the constant destruction of him, that didn’t seem to really _destroy_ him either. The last time was very brutal, a betrayal that lied bitter. A screen had been placed in front of him, with internet access. Which was a great opportunity to maybe talk to the CBC again, or whatever was allowed through this. Several social media seemed to be opened on the screen, all displaying several posts. From people on CBC, all sharing the same videos and pictures, putting funny texts on it, calling it relatable, funny. 

But when Nines finally clicked on one of the picture, his processors turned completely cold. Those were videos and pictures from the way Sixty dismembered him. They were _laughing_ at him for it. All of them, for length in tweets, tumblr or facebook posts, again and again. Searches on Google would also only points out to this. His suffering seemed to be just a joke for them all. Even the Connors seemed to find it amusing, 60 going all about the details on how it cracked and failed, on how he may have died, but it was worth it. 51 lamenting on how he wasn't here to see it and help the other Connor. How 60 would do it all over again if he ever crossed path with Nines again.

“Amanda! I’m done, if you want to destroy me for, just do it!” He said. Did he have to do it himself this time? Would the memes about his horrible destruction would drive him mad to the point of ending it himself? Was it the point? A noise suddenly caught his attention, and as he looked to his left where it came from, Nines saw some kind of glitch in space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know, I failed Inktober, but I fully intend to finish it. :)


End file.
